Blood Red
by KanraToshi
Summary: Jae has a new neighbor that ends up working with her on crime cases. However, will he discover Jae's own deep dark secret?


**Title: **Blood Red

**Author: **Toshi1337

**Class: **Mystery and Crime Final Project

**A/N: **This was a short story I wrote for my senior Mystery and Crime class. There's also a music video that goes along to it. /MIg6dx_o82k

* * *

He always loved the color red.

As a child, he saw the color as representing true beauty; he saw the color as something inside you, waiting to bubble up and spill out.

At the age of 10, he deemed his favorite activity as watching the gleaming red ooze, staring and analyzing how beautiful it was, on his finger, painting his skin red.

At the age of 12, he took on the task of examining the red in others. In the years that followed, he collected the samples of the red liquid from small dead animals in the nearby woods: rats, birds, even cats, anything he could find.

He continued, and eventually even smuggled his mom's kitchen knives to dismember and dissect the different body parts.

_It's only for scientific research_, he would assure herself. _Just hands-on practice for the future. _

And that would be the end of his unease.

* * *

Jae breathed in the cool night air and hurried along, pulling her long trench coat closer for warmth. Arriving at her apartment near midnight, she climbed up the stairs wearily, only to find boxes littering against the door of the apartment door next to her's.

_Strange_. She thought. _Trash perhaps?_

She was just about to ignore it when the door opened, and a guy appeared, reaching down and trying to balance the boxes together in his arms.

_Who moves in 12 at night?_ Jae wondered and stared, before deciding to go over to help.

The man finally noticed her and gave a small smile, straightened up and managed not to knock anything out his arms.

"Hello," he greeted Jae warmly. "You must be my new neighbor." He cautiously took one hand off the boxes, and held it out.

Jae took it and shook, still staring at the guy's hair. It was spiky, carefully styled, with the tips dyed blonde. It framed his face nicely; the bangs sweeping down to almost cover his large eyes.

"I'm Max," he continued, smiling. "I just moved in officially…" He peered cautiously around the boxes he was still carrying to check the watch on his wrist. "…an hour ago."

"I can see that." Jae responded, tilting her head at the remaining boxes still left behind near his front door.

"I'm Jae; it's nice to meet you. Did you need any help with the last of your stuff?"

Max smiled widely, and nodded. "Thanks. That'd be so helpful."

And so, Jae ended up going to sleep almost 3 hours later than she planned.

* * *

Jae woke up the next morning not to the sound of her alarm, but to the sound of someone insistently pounding at her front door.

Grumbling, Jae tossed off her covers unwillingly, and zombie-walked to the door, yelling, "I'm coming!"

Opening the door, she was met with Max standing on the other side, wearing a bemused smile. Feeling self-conscious, Jae quickly ran a hand through her hair, finger combing it.

"Yes? How may I help you?" Jae asked politely while trying not to yawn, still not getting over the lack of sleep.

"I was wondering if you wanted to meet for coffee." Max offered. "You know, the whole get-to-know-your-neighbors-and-surroundings-better thing."

And that was how Jae spent her weekend, meeting Max in the local café shop in the mornings (an ungodly hour for the weekends, Jae had commented), and even helping Max sort through the mess from apartment moving.

She thought she had gotten to know Max a little better, from little details like his past job (Max said he was stationed in Los Angeles), his age (2 years older than her), and even how he already had a girlfriend (much to Jae's annoyance), but she was clearly surprised to see Max standing in the lobby of where she worked Monday morning.

He was new on the police task force, stationed at the same team with her. Jae felt an odd sense of accomplishment when her boss, Ash, paired Max with her, telling her to show Max the basics, unaware that she had a small smile on her face.

Before he left the room, Ash raised an eyebrow and brushed by Jae, and whispered, "He might not be free you know." This was accompanied by a small jab into Jae's waist and a knowing smile.

Jae retaliated by sticking her tongue out in defiance, but Ash's words stuck with her even after he left. She knew for a fact that Max wasn't available; in fact, she had met Max's girlfriend yesterday on the apartment stairs as she headed out.

She was pretty, with milky white skin, big green eyes (like emeralds, Max had said once), and silky blonde hair that curled and fell down to the length of her waist.

Jae learned that her name was Cassie, and that she was a dance instructor at the neighborhood school, and that, no, she wasn't Max's girlfriend; she was his fiancée. _She certainly was nice enough during introductions_, Jae thought.

However, she didn't feel satisfaction or joy when Max commented on how she was more similar with Cassie in more ways than one.

* * *

The chance for Max to work on a case together with her was just a week later. Jae was told to report to Ash's office for a briefing along with a few others. To Jae, it seemed that Ash was a little shaken up, which was weird because Ash always remained calm when working on a case, no matter what.

Ash was pacing around the office room after everyone arrived, waiting for him to give an explanation. Instead, Ash said, "I think you guys should see this yourselves."

The team arrived at the crime scene around half an hour later. Jae had to admit, she had worked on quite a number of cases, each puzzling, but this case was a bit different.

The victim, Rain, was a young woman, 22 years of age, and pretty. The murder had taken place in her own apartment, in the dining room. Her limbs were torn apart and laid around the room. Her head was place on the dining table, displayed on a china plate. Her eyes had been dug out, and tongue removed.

Her body had cut marks, as if someone had taken their anger out by slicing into the skin. Rain's ring finger had been sliced, and using the victim's own blood, the murderer had written the word "LIAR" clearly on the dining room table.

Jae swallowed with difficulty and raised her camera, snapping pictures of different areas of the dining room, from different angles, from the remaining corpse to the blood splatters on the floor and walls. Jae scrunched up her nose in disgust.

Max was quiet the entire time the investigation team was at the scene, letting everyone work quietly and efficiently. Jae paid no mind to it.

The killer was definitely precise, being extremely careful and paying close attention to details. However, it was also as if he had practiced this before. There was no evidence, no hair, blood, fingerprints samples. Nothing but the own victim's blood, limbs, and crushed eyes.

It was as if the killer hadn't even stepped into the room.

Jae spent time in the forensics lab trying to dig up clues, but with no leads and no evidence, there was no way to progress in the case. Eventually, the higher ups filed it as a cold case. They simply didn't have a lead.

* * *

In the few months that passed, Jae got to know Max better. She helped in a few more cases, she carried around her normal life, and she met Max a few times, with Cassie in tow.

Jae admitted Cassie was very nice and hospitable. She had a cute laugh, and spoke in a soft tone, but there was the way she latched herself onto Max's arm that made Jae mad. She hated it when they hugged, hated it when they kissed, hated it when they cuddled.

So she supposed she was suppose to feel a little happy, if not guilty, when she heard that the two had a recent quarrel, though she was assured by Max that it was a small one.

She guessed she was also supposed to feel a bit happy when Max sighed and told her, "You know, sometimes I wish Cassie was a bit more like you."

Jae smiled.

* * *

It was the end of October when the killer returned, this time targeting a young man around 25 years old. He was found dead, lying in his living room, in front of his TV.

The man, Micky, was reported having his friends over and playing video games. His friends claimed to have left around midnight, but couldn't contact him the following day.

Worried, they had gone to his house and broke down the door, only to find his dead body and blood.

Snapping away on her camera once again, Jae glanced around the room, wrinkling her nose a little at the smell of dried blood.

This time, the victim's entire right arm was cut, set on top of the TV. The killer had gorged out the eyes again, and had placed those on display as well. The game controller was left lying in the victim's other hand, with the word "ADDICTION" written clearly, in blood once again, on the black TV screen.

As with the first case, there was no trace that led to a trail to the killer.

The police force was puzzled. The two victims had no connections with each other; most likely, they didn't even know each other.

* * *

Jae spent most of her time in the forensics lab, frowning and puzzling over the blood samples from the victims again, trying to reach a pattern, a connection. The only thing she succeeded in doing was giving herself a headache.

She sighed, and looked up when she heard footsteps approaching. Max was standing in front of her, offering her a cup of hot tea. She accepted it gratefully.

Between the two of them working overtime, they had come to the conclusion that the killer was professional, probably a male, someone who was tall and strong, with good knowledge about the police field so he didn't leave a trail for the police to follow.

Jae looked up from her tea to see Max staring out the forensics door. Jae followed his gaze and it landed on Cassie, standing uncertainly by the entrance.

Jae looked at Max and made a shooing motion at him. He smiled gently at her and walked over to Cassie, giving her a hug. Jae saw their backs, walking out the door and down the hallway hand in hand.

Things were uneventful for a few weeks. Max and Cassie must've forgiven each other because Max was spending more time with her, which meant essentially less time with Jae.

Jae never met him outside of work anymore. Even so, Jae didn't hesitate to defend him when Ash came into her lab, trying to get info on Max.

"Why?" she had demanded to know.

"Just precaution." Ash had answered in dismissal. "There's something that seems suspicious about him. After all, the killings started right after he moves into town. He knows exactly how the police force works, he's careful and observant, and he's certainly strong enough to have committed the crimes…"

Jae jumped in as Ash's voice trailed off. "You just can't jump to conclusions about people!" she all but yelled. "You don't have proof that he's guilty. He's one of us, Ash, he couldn't have done it!"

Ash sighed. "Honestly? I don't know what to believe now." Ash stared into Jae's eyes.

"Let me ask you something."

"What?" Jae replied carefully.

"How well do you know Max, huh? How well _exactly_? Do you know his behavior, his likes, his dislikes, his personal life, his past, his _secrets_?" Jae remained silent.

"That's what I thought." Ash stood up, patting Jae on the shoulder. "Don't let it get to you too badly. It's just a possibility, but we just can't take any risks right now." He left, and Jae was left scowling at the miserable atmosphere.

* * *

The murders got more gruesome and more frequent in the next two weeks. Without any physical evidence that Max was the culprit, Ash and the other higher ups couldn't arrest Max, but they kept him monitored.

Max visited Jae more in the forensics lab, watching her study blood cells intensely through a microscope.

"Innocent lives are being killed," he had once said to her. "All because of a man's sick twisted mind." Jae heard the underlying anger in his normally calm voice.

"We'll catch him." Jae could only reassure him, helplessly wanting to do more.

* * *

As work got more and more stressful, Jae found herself hanging out with Cassie more. She admitted that it wasn't bad; she just got an awkward tension when Max tried to join in.

However, Jae found that she couldn't say no to when Max invited her and Cassie over for a celebration. She realized after Max left, smiling, that she never asked what the celebration was for.

When Jae arrived and rang the doorbell, the door was immediately opened by Max, who had his keys in one hand, pulling on his jacket with the other.

"Come on in," he said, his face apologetic. "Cassie's sitting in the living room. You can go join her. I gotta make a quick stop at the store… forgot I ran out of drinks. I won't be gone long."

Before Jae could protest, Max had shut the door and left.

* * *

Max panics when he hears sobs coming from inside his apartment, and he drops the grocery bags he'd been carrying, fumbling for his keys.

He unlocked his door and was faced with his home, destroyed. There was broken glass everywhere on the floor; his stuff was strewn across the floor.

Then his eyes processed the red. Red, red everywhere. Blood stained his floor, the walls, on his furniture…

Max stared, his eyes widening in fear, before letting loose a scream.

And then his brain caught up, realizing he doesn't see Jae or Cassie anywhere. He steps uncertainly into his apartment and noticed a trail of blood leading into his bedroom.

He takes a deep breath, and decides to follow it.

* * *

Have you ever felt like the world was moving too fast for you to follow?

Or when it seemed like the world just stopped moving, and you were the only one aware of it?

Or both those things happening at once?

Max felt both of those sensations at once when he opened his bedroom door and found Cassie lying on his bed, completely dismembered. Head, arms, legs, eyes, even her organs…everything.

Max was screaming before he realized it, the loud sound echoing throughout the room, bouncing off the walls. He's moving, running to her side, screaming in agony, his clenched knuckles white, and then he's whispering, "Why?!" over and over again, and the room becomes blurred through the tears forming in his eyes.

Over the roar sounding in his ears, Max lifted his head, remembering Jae, and he calls out, praying to himself that she's alright, that she's alive.

He hears an answering whimper, and he follows the sound until he arrives at his bedroom's closet. Taking a deep breath, he opens it to see a terrified Jae crouched down, hands hugging her knees with her head down. She was scratched, bruised, and wounded, but still alive.

Max dropped down to his knees. "Oh Jae," he whispered while hugging her. "I'm here." Max says, rubbing comforting circles on her back, attempting to soothe her and calm her down even though he was in shock as well.

"H-he…he was here." Jae manages to choke out as Max gently helped her to her feet and out from the small closet. She begins to tremble and almost falls back down.

"He was here…and Cassie answered the door…a-and…" Jae's voice trails off and she broke down in tears. Max hugged her tight, and stared into Jae's eyes, red and puffy from crying.

"Who?" Max asked urgently. "Who was here?"

When Jae didn't answer immediately, her eyes unfocused, Max shook her a little and repeated the question a bit demandingly.

"Who was here?"

Jae bent forward a little bit, and placed her lips close to Max's ears.

In a whispered voice, she replied, "_I _was here, Max." and Max could almost hear the smirk in her voice. He tries to lean back to look at her face, and opens his mouth to speak, but in the next moment, all his thoughts are gone.

He feels a sharp blade plunge into his chest (a dagger, a knife, a sword?), before it's removed and plunged deep into him again. Before he knows it, he falls and he's lying on his bedroom floor, lying in a pool of his blood.

His strength is leaving him. In his last breath, he manages to whisper "Why?". It's almost inaudible over the sound of Jae's heavy breathing.

Jae rubs his cheeks affectionately, and Max can't move away. She smears blood all across his face. "Because you're mine Max." Jae kisses him then, not noticing when Max's chest stopped heaving, stopped moving.

* * *

The next morning, it wasn't his alarm that woke her up, or Max's insistent knocking on her front door, but Ash's screams and yelling.

Jae sits up slowly in bed, rubbing her eyes and blinking in the harsh sunlight streaming in from her windows. She takes in Ash's worried face.

"Ash? What's wrong?"

Ash started apologizing before saying, "Max, and a girl, identified as Cassie, was found murdered in his apartment. His heart was carved out and missing…wounds and slashes all over his body. No traces." Jae felt the tears sting in her eyes, threatening to spill.

Ash nodded understandingly. "Take your time." He patted her shoulder in concern. "I'll be waiting at the crime scene next door."

Jae nodded numbly in response, and got out of bed, grabbing her wallet and phone on the way. She walked over to her closet to grab a jacket and noticed a simple plain box under her clothes on the closet floor.

She waited until she was sure Ash left her apartment and picked up the box, slowly opening the lid before smiling.

She remembered how Max looked in his last moment, absolutely stunning with red smeared all over his body. She made a mental note to keep the box safe somewhere.

Turning back to the box, she used her index finger to prod the heart before gently closing the lid, locking it, and hid it once more. She turned to walk out of her bedroom and got ready to walk over to Max's apartment next door.

"You're mine, Max. Now and always."

* * *

**END**


End file.
